The debate on soft drugs has regained vigor and, to fuel it, are some studies that show how the consumption of cannabis can cause harmful effects on the brain , especially in the younger sections of the population.
The numbers speak for themselves: the youngest Italy smokes cannabis
Scientific studies, carried out on adolescent habitual marijuana users, support these claims. Cannabis abuse could cause anatomical and functional damage to a developing brain such as that of adolescents. The toxic substances present in cannabis would affect the neurological processes of maturation, compromising the perceptual and cognitive functions of the individual.
Even more alarming results if we consider the figures of the phenomenon in Italy.
- Italy is second in Europe for cannabis use among young people.
- 42% of 12-15 year olds habitually use cannabis.
- It is the drug most consumed by Italians since 2001.
- It is the most popular substance among young people aged 15 to 19.
How to study the neuropsychological alterations caused by cannabis
It becomes essential to understand its impact on the brain and what neuropsychological consequences it brings with it in terms of alterations in normal neuronal development. Useful tools for this are:
- magnetic resonance imaging, to obtain detailed 3D images of the anatomical structure of the brain areas;
- positron emission tomography (PET), to map the density of cannabinoid 1 (CB1) receptors.
Cannabis and the prefrontal cortex: smoking clouds our ability to choose
In this regard, a 2021 study, published in the prestigious journal Jama Psichiatry (1), studied the effects of habitual cannabis use on the brain in a sample of 799 adolescents followed. for 5 years.
Continued use of cannabis was associated with thinning of the prefrontal cortex and the higher the density of CB1 receptors the more pronounced was the reduction in cortical thickness .
The frontal cortex is the brain region that fully matures around 20-21 years of age. Not surprisingly, the prefrontal cortex , together with a brain area known as the limbic lobe, intervenes in the control ofimpulses , in the regulation of emotions , in the decisions to be made and in the planning of long-term goals as well as in the assessment of the risks and consequences of our behaviors; all things that you learn to manage with real awareness in this phase of life. The inhibition of dangerous behaviors, controlled by the frontal cortex, is also exercised on emotions that involve immediate pleasure, such as those related to the intake of substances such as cannabis. This is one of the reasons why drug addiction is more likely to develop in adolescents, whose frontal cortex is not yet fully developed.
The neuropsychological consequences of habitual cannabis use during adolescence
These data confirm and expand the data from two studies from 2011 (2) and 2012 (3) that compared adolescent habitual and non-cannabis users. In subjects who abused cannabis, alterations in cortical thickness were found , an altered development of the cerebral gray matter and a failure to eliminate the excess neuronal synapses that normally occurs during development and necessary to consolidate the most used synapses in the brain circuits by eliminating the superfluous ones. which could alter some brain processes. It has also been shown that early and prolonged use of the substance causes changes in brain connectivity, in turn at the basis of cognitive deficits and greater vulnerability to psychotic and schizophrenic disorders, as well as depressive and anxiety disorders .
What doesn’t kill you could change you forever
It’s true: you don’t die of cannabis, indeed, in some cases, when used for therapeutic purposes, it even heals. But proving that the habitual consumption of marijuana at a young age is harmful to the proper development of the brain, emotions and impulsivity and is potentially responsible for the possible emergence of psychiatric disorders, means having to admit that a joint, even if it does not kill us. , it can change us more than we would like to admit .
- Albaugh MD, et al. Association of cannabis use during adolescence with neurodevelopment. JAMA Psychiatry. Published online June 16, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.1258
- Lopez-Larson MP, et al. Altered prefrontal and insular cortical thickness in adolescent marijuana users. Behav. Brain Res. 2011 Jun 20;220(1):164-72
- Rubino T, et al. Adolescent exposure to cannabis as a risk factor for psychiatric disorders. Journal of Psichopharmacology, 2012, Jan;26. doi: 10.1177/0269881111405362
